Reviews

Winter, White and Wicked by Shannon Dittemore

jolietjane's review against another edition

5.0

4.5/ 5 and I HAVE A LOT TO UNPACK HERE. This was described as Mad Max meets Frozen. That's still true if you add drugs, smugglers, buddy team adventures and found family nonsense, and...monsters made out of body parts of other people(?) Right. Remember what I said? We are unpacking a lot.

Is Winter, White and Wicked perfect? Not by a long shot. But I’ll be damned if I didn’t have a great time. For about 4.5 hours I was taken an on absolute fever dream where nothing made sense and everything made sense at the same time.

Sylvi is a long haul trucker living a modest life driving her big rig across an island of eternal winter. She has the ear of the winter spirit that dominates the land. Her life is changed when her best friend runs away with a group of rebels fighting against the oppressive late stage capitalist ruling class that dominates the land.

Mars Dresden is a black eyed smuggler that has learned to enslave the spirit of winter to his will, and he needs Sylvi and her truck for a long and dangerous journey. Our story follows Sylvi, Mars, and his small team across a desert of ice. They face sociopathic rangers, vicious wildlife, island natives, and winter's fury on their journey.

What sets this apart to me is the incredible amount of gore and violence for what I believe is technically considered a YA novel- Winter White and Wicked does not hold back in it's viciousness. I would go so far to argue that the book has actually carved out a whole new genre of YA Grimdark, pushing the limits of what would normally be considered acceptable for a teen audience. No character is safe from immeasurable suffering.

At it's core, One could argue that "Winter" is about deconstructing belief and the foundation of belief- as we are introduced to several impactful moments of radical faith (bot religious and political) Whether it's Sylvi's unrelenting belief in the spirit that haunts her, the numerous island based faiths that drive the brutal lifestyles of their inhabitance, or warring political parties that use humans as slave labor. The absolute truths believed by almost every character they meet swell into a dark and cold world of violence that makes driving a truck turn into a death sentence.

Unlike many YA novels of today, "Winter" does not focus much on things like romance, instead investing deeply into the powerful growing bond between Sylvi and the smugglers that she is driving. The character driven warmth of this book carries you through the darkness of this world and keeps you invested until the end.

junghoseok's review against another edition

4.0

Thanks to School Library Journal for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review

By the time I got to the end of this book, I enjoyed it more than I was at the beginning. There was a lot of confusing worldbuilding, history, names of people and places, magic, etc that I could not keep straight in my head no matter how many times I reread passages (though my mind has had a tendency to wander lately, so it could be a it's-not-you-it's-me thing). But by about midway through I was sucked in and started to care about what was happening.

My favorite thing was definitely the relationship between Winter, the ice spirit, and Sylvi, the main character. I won't get into spoilers but a big part of the book is Sylvi coming to terms with/finally seeing the truth of Winter's relationship with her and how it may not be as benign and loving as it seems. Sylvi's arc has a lot to do with questioning her past and questioning her motivations, wants, and the truth of things around her, which I really like.

3.5 stars. Not sure if I'll read the second one, but I'm glad I picked this one up.

amarylissw's review against another edition

2.0

Interesting premise, but the world-building was all over the place, the characters weren’t well-established, and the plot failed to keep me invested.

storiedadventures's review against another edition

5.0

This was THE PERFECT YA read. Sylvie, our MC, is sassy as all heck. She is an ice road trucker in a fantasy world. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this was one of the most unique books I've ever read. It was pure fun. Sylvie makes a deal with smugglers to get her best friend back and along the way she learns things she didn't want to learn. I relate to her a bit because she just wants the safety of normalcy. But her entire world changes. I liked the monsters in this book. I LOVE Kyn!! Sweet cinnamon roll! And Hyla, she's like an amazonian warrior. And Mars is the mysterious magical user. There are actually a few twists and turns and I can't wait for book 2!!

acasualreadersrecord's review against another edition

4.0

Whichever review I read that said this is Mad Max meets Frozen somehow nailed it. I'm here for the world building and the morally grey characters and circumstances.

carina_shephard's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars // read June 2021

tl;dr: Winter, White and Wicked went wonderfully well; a wild and frigid ride with a whimsical spell. Except for content, which I didn't like. The end.

Actual review:

-First off, the cover. Feast your eyes on the beautiful cover. Feel the temperature drop fifteen degrees as Sylvi stares into your soul. The typography. The alliteration in the title- I almost want to do a video of this review just so I can keep repeating the title. XD

-Worldbuilding! The world is so completely unique and frigid and original, it's really fascinating. There's a dash of dystopian in there too! I also liked the different races and cultures.

-Yay for developed legends and mythology! I thought maybe it was a Snow Queen retelling; it's not, but there are some similarities with Frozen (two sisters, for example.)

-I actually thought that Sylvi was going to end up with someone else. XD I'm glad she didn't, because it would've been the cliche person and would've ended up being weird. I did like the romance- it's sort of in the background and features one of my favorite tropes.

-Plot twists! I figured out one thing, but didn't figure out other things, so it worked out.

-The writing is good, but a little too vague at some points. I really wish that we had a picture of the Sylver Dragon because that was the hardest thing for me to visualize.

-The ending is just tight enough that it works by itself but I'm wondering if maybe a sequel is in the works?



Content: Medium.

Language: Some swearing and crude words (denser towards the beginning of the book.) The word "flux" is used as a swear word and it's rather too easy to translate that into an English equivalent.

Sensuality: Mention of a young girl being assaulted. References to a prostitute.

Violence: By far the creepiest part are the Frankenstein's monster-type creatures, composed of various limbs from different dead people. Eep. Heavy rocks are placed on people as torture. Oh, yeah, and a guy is killed. Mentions of blood. Fun stuff like that.

Other: Sylvi prays to Winter at least once; even though she's technically a winter spirit she's basically viewed as a goddess. There's references to *cough* bodily fluids. Raw kol basically acts as a drug to those who aren't immune or who don't have protection against it.

ravenchild077's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.75

artemishi's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Characters: 6, Sylver is somewhat fleshed out as a character, but Mars, Hyla, and Kyndel are abstracts centered around a central theme (dangerous smuggler, brave fighter, hot guy). Mars gets a backstory at the end, but we're still short on character development. They're all somewhere between flat and three-dimensional. On the flip side, Winter herself is a complex character, which was unexpected. 

Atmosphere: 7, the landscape of a desolate, constant winter on a small island, with corporate-controlled mining operations, addiction problems, and poverty was easy to picture. I did have two major disconnects in terms of immersion: the frigid atmosphere being described, but Sylvi never feeling it, kept me from internalizing it as well; most of the action sequences with the rig were confusing to me- I thought I understood who was where and doing what, but then there'd be an abrupt shift and it'd cause me to question my understanding. Unfortunately, that last one pulled me out of story multiple times, so I had to push myself to keep reading. 

Writing: 6, the writing was neither good nor bad. The dialogue helped establish character via tone, but there was a lot of convenient ESP happening between characters. And there's insta-love, which we all know I hate. No spoilers, but the author seemed to be turning that trope on its head, until the end when she just dove into it. Honestly, I'm not going to continue this duology, and I'm unlikely to pick up anything else by the author. 

Plot: 7, the pacing was consistent- as was the danger and damage to our characters- and nothing dragged. The end did feel very wrapped up and convenient, with people reaching conclusions without us seeing the path they took to get there. The setting and mythology of the story is unique, and for that I give it points. 

Intrigue: 5, I had to push myself to read this after multiple instances of being pushed out of the story during the action sequences that should've been pulling me in. And not being very invested with the MC meant being ambivalent about the plot. 

Logic: 7, I was confused about the magic system until the final 2 chapters. Things were stated to be threats, seen to adversely affect the MC, but then suddenly not be an issue for her at all. Conversely, the Shiv and Paradyian beliefs and cultures were pretty well established, and those characters acted in accordance with their cultural beliefs. Motivation-wise, the characters seem to be acting in accordance to their values (what we know of them, anyway). 

Enjoyment: 6, I knew by the halfway mark that I didn't care to finish the duology, so I can't say I really enjoyed the story. But it wasn't bad, per se. 

libbeta's review

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

norababora's review against another edition

4.0

I had trouble getting into the book at first but after a while i realized i was completely enveloped in the world that this takes place. Everything about this book is very unique. Every detail was very well thought out and at times pretty scary haha. How the Abaki were described would be pretty terrifying to see in person. I also imagined the cages to be downright horrifying to experience.
This definitely sounds like it will end up being a series and i look forward to seeing what happens to Sylvi and her crew.